


Pin-Up Girls

by TheChosenAvatar



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F, F/M, korra is oblivious of her true feelings, little divergence, mostly canon compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-10
Updated: 2015-10-10
Packaged: 2018-04-25 16:49:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4968679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheChosenAvatar/pseuds/TheChosenAvatar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Korra is in no way jealous of Asami Sato's beauty and sets out to prove it to Mako. Set during Book 1 between The Winner Is... and The Aftermath.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pin-Up Girls

“Can you bring me the mail, Bolin?” Mako called from the couch in their loft. He stretched out, tipping the last of his tea into his mouth before setting the cup down on the table in front of him.

“I want to check if that magazine came, the one with all the business stuff? I kind of want to see how much a suit costs. You know, in case Asami takes me out for dinner again?” he said with a dopey smile, folding his hands behind his head as he thought about his girlfriend.

A bundle of newspapers smacked him promptly in the face, a snarl quickly replacing his grin. He sat up abruptly, glaring at his brother. “Bolin, what the--?!”

Bolin was doubled over, clutching his stomach as he shook with laughter. “You—you should have seen your face! It was priceless!”

Mako cast a seething look at his little brother, contemplating if he should get up and start a fight with him. “Whatever. You’re just jealous that I’ve got a gorgeous girlfriend and you don’t.”

“Maybe,” Bolin said, plopping down on the couch next to Mako. “But at least I don’t have a gorgeous girlfriend that I cheated on.”

“I didn’t cheat on her. Korra kissed me!” Mako said, but the words sounded lame even to his ears. He knew damn well that he had _wanted_ Korra to kiss him. And he had kissed her right back. And then he had rejected her, and continued on with Asami as if nothing had happened. It had seemed like a good plan at the time, but every time he really took the time to think about what he was doing, what he was keeping from Asami, he began to feel pretty horrible. And today, Mako didn’t want to feel horrible. So he changed the subject as Bolin began to respond.

“—and it’s not open for discussion. Hand me that magazine?” Mako nodded to a magazine that had fallen out of the bundle of newspapers now at Bolin’s feet.

Bolin shrugged, giving Mako a lightly disapproving look before kicking the magazine to him, leaning over to peer at the cover as Mako opened it. “Bro, I really don’t think you can afford anything in that magazine.”

Mako frowned as he leafed through the pages, looking for something that would impress Asami. “Even if I can’t buy anything, at least I can get some ideas of— _whoa_.”

“What? What!?” Bolin asked excitedly.

“ _This_ —that’s—“was all Mako managed to get out, repeatedly pointing at a page in the magazine with his mouth hanging open.

Bolin snatched the magazine from Mako’s hands to get a better look at what he was gawking at, and nearly fainted himself when he saw the photo that had rendered his brother speechless.

A woman dressed in a black pencil skirt and a tailored black blazer sat atop a desk with her legs crossed, the skirt riding up above her knees as her green eyes gazed at the camera, ruby lips slightly parted. The blazer was open a few buttons revealing just a bit of cleavage as she ran one of her hands through her wavy black hair while the other kept her steady on the desk.

The tag line under the ad read,

 _The skirt every businesswoman needs to get what she wants_.

_The latest in the Fall line from Woman Elite, sponsored by Asami Sato of Future Industries._

“ASAMI?” Bolin squeaked out, unable to tear his eyes away from the ad.

“She’s so gorgeous…” Mako breathed, in a trance as he stared at Asami through the page.

“She’s incredible…” Bolin added, tugging the magazine further towards him when Mako tried to hog it for himself.

“Who’s ‘she’?” Korra said cheerfully, the door slamming behind her as she took a seat next to Bolin on the already cramped couch.

“Oh, uh, nothing, nothing!” Mako said too fast, laughing uneasily as he snapped the magazine shut, throwing it across the room.

Korra raised an eyebrow at him before silently retrieving the magazine and returning to her spot next to Bolin.

“Doesn’t sound like nothing. What were you guys looking at, Bolin?” Korra said sweetly, laying the magazine on his lap, leaning over and propping her chin up on her fist as she awaited his response.

“Uhh...” Bolin muttered, caught between Mako on his left, who was doing everything but screaming “DON’T TELL HER,” and Korra, who was looking at him with the most pleading, adorable, puppy-dog eyes…

“ASAMI!” Bolin broke down while Korra’s features twisted into confusion.

“Asami?” she said quizzically. “What about her?”

“She…uh…she’s, you know…” Bolin was scrambling to try and cover his outburst, but Mako had already known he’d said too much.

He hastily reached over to Bolin and took the magazine, flipping the pages until he found Asami’s ad, and slapped it onto Korra’s lap, none too pleased at her nosiness.

“There. Happy?” he said to her, crossing his arms in a huff. He didn’t want to cause any further animosity between Korra and Asami – things were already tense as they were. There really was no need for Korra to see the ad that the brothers had been practically drooling over.

Korra peered at the magazine page, wondering what was so special about the woman until it all clicked into place as she recognized the green eyes, beautiful hair and painted red lips: it was Asami.

She felt her cheeks redden and her heart began to beat a bit faster as she scrutinized the ad more closely, her eyes trying but failing to move past the little hint of cleavage revealed by the slightly open blazer.

Korra panicked and closed the magazine, throwing it across the room as Mako did earlier.

“Seriously? Is there anything she can’t do? This is so typical rich girl,” Korra said bitterly, unsure of how to react to the strangely sensual ad.

 “See, this is exactly why I didn’t want you to see it! I knew you’d attack her,” Mako stood up, his voice raising at Korra’s comments.

Korra jumped up too, not to be beaten by Mako. “I’m not attacking her. I’m just saying. She _would_ be modelling in a magazine. Whatever daddy’s little girl wants, she gets.”

“Okay, Korra. I’m sorry that you’re threatened by Asami’s good looks, but you need to—“

“WHOA. Hold on there. Threatened by her good looks?” Korra yelled incredulously.

Bolin shrank further into the couch as the argument escalated.

“Yeah! You can’t admit how great she looks. You’re just jealous. You need to get over it!” Mako returned with equal heat, fists at his sides. No one could get on his nerves like Korra could.

“Oh, really?! Well I’ll show you! I think Asami looks drop dead gorgeous in the ad. I think she looks like some kind of goddess. If I was a guy, I would TOTALLY want to kiss her face. I think she looks so amazing that I’m going to rip this ad out and HANG IT ON THE WALL IN MY ROOM!” Korra roared, snatching the magazine up from the floor. She aggressively shoved pages out of the way until she saw Asami’s face and ripped the page out, carefully folding it, letting the rest of the magazine fall to the floor again.

Mako stood with his mouth slightly open, not sure how to react to Korra’s words.

Korra smirked triumphantly at Mako. She knew she’d win with that. She’d even complimented Asami.

_Me, jealous? Please. You can’t get more not-jealous than that._

Her look managed to further infuriate Mako. “We both know as soon as you leave this room you’re going to light it on fire. I don’t believe you one bit.”

“Heh. That’s what you think,” Korra scoffed, turning on her heel after waving at Bolin cheerily, a complete change in tone.

“See you later Bolin. If you need me, I’ll be hanging up this picture of Asami in my room. Because I _admire her talent at modelling_ and I’d like to be a good friend and _show my_ _support_ ,” she finished with a pointed look at Mako over her shoulder as she exited the room.

As she closed the door she could’ve sworn she heard Mako kick a table in frustration and laughed, reveling in the feeling of winning the argument.

\----

Back in her room at Air Temple Island, Korra surveyed the walls of her room, hammer and nail in hand, looking for the perfect spot to put up her picture of Asami. Seeing as there was currently nothing on the walls, she had a lot space to choose from.

She thought about putting the picture on the far opposite side of the room, as far away from her as possible, but decided against it, instead hanging the picture up near her bed. For interior design aesthetic purposes.

 _Since when do you care about interior design?_ a voice in her head asked, but Korra got rid of it by pounding the nail into the picture, the loud sound bringing her back to the present, the whole reason why she was doing this anyway: Mako.

Who was he to tell her that she was threatened by Asami’s looks? There was nothing to be threatened by. She was the _Avatar_. She had _abs_ , for crying out loud.

 _This ad is not even that amazing,_ Korra thought as she finished putting it up, standing back to survey her work before reaching over to straighten the picture.

After she had fixed it, she stared at Asami’s face, trying to figure out why Bolin and Mako had responded to the ad with such awe.

_I guess her eyes are really pretty. They’re kind sparkly, even on paper. And her legs look very smooth._

Korra ran a finger over Asami’s crossed legs, swallowing thickly as her finger traveled higher, tracing Asami’s flowing locks.

_Her hair must be very soft too._

_Hair that Mako gets to touch whenever he wants…_

At that thought, a pang of jealousy shot through her, causing her to pull away from the picture.

Why did Asami have to be so perfect?

A soft knock on Korra’s door caused her to further distance herself from the ad. She hadn’t really stopped to think about how she would explain having a picture of Asami up in her room…

“Uh…come in!” Korra called out, and the door creaked open softly.

“Hey, Korra!” Asami poked her head through and Korra’s jaw dropped, her eyes widening in surprise.

Why was Asami in her room?!

“I…” Korra began to sweat, trying to decide what to do.

_She’s gonna see the picture. SHE’S GONNA SEE THE PICTURE. Should I kick her out? Should I leave the room? Should I make a hole in the wall? Should I—_

“Can I come in?” Asami said, but it was really just to be polite as she nudged open the door and stepped in anyway while Korra continued to open and close her mouth wordlessly.

Asami froze. _Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to come here._

“Korra…are you okay?” Asami asked, worried at the other girl’s odd behavior.

When Korra only cast her a sheepish smile in response, Asami decided to sit on the edge of Korra’s bed, trying to make her feel more comfortable.

“I just wanted to swing by to ask you something,” Asami said easily, her smile appearing calm though her heart was pounding. She had wanted to ask if Korra wanted to hang out with her at her mansion tomorrow. She hadn’t had the opportunity to get to know Korra like she had with Mako, and she had a feeling that if they had some alone time together, Korra might warm up to her a bit better. She really wanted to try being friends with her, and she was really hoping that Korra wouldn’t turn down her invitation.

As Asami waited for Korra’s answer, she lowered her gaze to the floor, not wanting to make her feel intimidated or uncomfortable by being too forward.

Korra, meanwhile, took this opportunity to shuffle towards the picture, moving so that her back was covering it completely, obscuring it from Asami’s view.

“What do you need from me?” Korra said curtly, and slapped herself mentally. _Could you sound anymore off-putting?_

“Oh…um, I don’t really need anything from you,” Asami said, deciding to brush off Korra’s brusque tone.

She looked up at Korra, trying to convey her sincerity.

“I was going to see if you’d like to hang out with me tomorrow at my mansion.”

“You and me? Hang out at your mansion?” Korra repeated, caught a bit off guard. Asami wanted to hang out with her?

Asami nodded. “Yes! I thought we could go swimming, have lunch—“

“And shopping and makeovers?” Korra interrupted her, trying to joke. She couldn’t fathom why Asami would want to hang out with her after how unabashedly hostile she’d been towards her thus far in their acquaintance-ship.

Asami felt hurt for just a moment before she realized that Korra was probably surprised by her offer, and resorted to joking. She decided to return the barb.

“I was thinking more along the lines of racing on the track and some sparring, but if you’d rather go with your suggestions…” Asami teased, laughing as Korra’s eyebrows shot straight up.

Korra broke into a smile at the sound of Asami’s laughter.

 _I wonder if Mako ever makes her laugh like this,_ she thought. _Or maybe it’s just another thing that I’m better than him at._

“Racing and sparring? Now that sounds fun,” Korra agreed. She was kind of uneasy at the idea of her and Asami alone though…wouldn’t Asami be bored with just her?  

“So is that a yes?” Asami asked hopefully.

“Um, is it okay if Mako and Bolin come too?” Korra asked, not meeting Asami’s eyes.

 _Damn it,_ Asami thought as she adjusted her hair clip. She had a feeling that Korra was going to say this. While she would have preferred to just hang out with Korra, if she was more comfortable with the guys there than that was fine. They could come too.

“Sure! No problem!” Asami beamed, happy just that Korra would be coming.

As she tried clipping her hair back into place, the blue piece of plastic escaped her fingers and clattered to the floor, causing the left side of her hair to freely frame her face.

“Oh, shoot!” Asami said, bending down to look for the clip.

Korra immediately sank to the floor. “Don’t worry, I’ll get it! I think it went under the bed.”

She crouched and peered under Asami’s feet, and sure enough the clip was under the bed. Korra leaned and grabbed it before sitting back up, handing Asami the clip.

“Here ya go!” Korra said, forgetting to stand back up as she watched Asami intently while she replaced the clip in her hair.

“Thanks!” Asami said after she finished, smiling down at Korra, who returned her smile as she remained kneeling on the floor.

“So why do you have a picture of me on your wall?” Asami asked casually, fighting to keep from laughing. When Korra had bent down to retrieve her hair clip, she hadn’t expected to see one of her old modelling ads on the wall.

“What?? I don’t have a picture of you on the wall!” Korra yelled lamely.

Asami looked from Korra to the picture, smirking slightly.

“One of the kids put it up?” Korra offered.

“Are you asking me or telling me?” Asami laughed.

Korra’s face grew red and she closed her eyes in defeat, embarrassed at the whole situation.

_Asami probably doesn’t to hang out anymore. She probably thinks I’m some kind of stalker!_

“I’m sorry. I promise I’m not a weirdo!”

“I don’t think you’re a weirdo. I’m actually flattered. Plus, I have a picture of you in my room,” Asami said, thinking of the photo she’d snipped from the newspaper of Korra’s first press conference in Republic City.

“What??” Korra’s eyebrows wrinkled in confusion. _  
_

“I’ve always admired you. You’re the Avatar! And you’re on the Fire Ferrets. I don’t think you can get any cooler than that” Asami said, surprising herself at her admission.

“I had that picture before we knew each other. I never thought we’d get the chance to become friends through Mako,” Asami said. “If I’m being honest, the real reason I’m dating him is so that I can be closer to you.”

When Korra appeared to be in shock rather than getting the joke, Asami quickly covered.

“Don’t worry, I’m just kidding!” she laughed as she stood up, rolling her shoulders back to stretch. “So, I’ll see you tomorrow, then?”

“Uh, yeah! I’ll be there, with the guys!” Korra said, rising to walk Asami out.

“Do you want me to take you back to the City?” Korra asked as she opened the door of her bedroom.

“Thank you, but it’s okay. I actually drove here on my boat,” she said, gesturing out the hallway window to her speed boat docked outside.

“That’s your boat? You can drive a boat?” Korra couldn’t keep the surprise from her voice.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” Asami said mysteriously as she walked away, and Korra’s stomach fluttered involuntarily.

“Guess so,” Korra murmured as Asami made her way outside, waving at Korra before she hopped into her boat.

 _Well, that could have gone a lot worse_ , she thought to herself as she lingered in the hallway. _But tomorrow should be interesting._

“Korra?” Tenzin’s voice rang out from behind her.

“Yes?” Korra called out, frowning. _Meditation isn’t for another hour._

“Why did I find a picture of Hiroshi Sato’s daughter nailed to the temple wall?”

“What’s that? Can’t hear ya, gotta go!” Korra yelled, taking off at a dash to get as far away from Tenzin as possible.

_Trust me Tenzin, you probably don't want to know..._

**Author's Note:**

> KORRA THAT'S YOUR FUTURE WIFE


End file.
